Don Bridges Australia
Claudine Jones San Francisco
Jamie Zabairi London
Ren Powell Norway
      

San Francisco
What do you say about an area as diverse as this?
In the last three weeks I’ve seen: A musical, “The Secret of the Lost Queen”, in which the Hardy boys explore gender issues & Joe discovers accessorizing. Fabulous.  Henry IV  Pt . I in the park done with Samurai overtones. Uneven cast. (Our own home grown Mime Troop’s latest offering ,"Eating It," a science-fiction musical satire that looks at the impact of genetically enhanced vegetables, is next on my outdoor list.) Nick Park’s chickens “American Gypsy” a doc on gypsies in the Northwest, shot over a five year period & focusing on an excruciating civil rights court battle. Amazing footage & use of archival materials. “Juliette of the Herbs”, a doc on the legendary Juliette de Bairacli Levy, a vet who lives in isolation except for occasional forays out into the world to lecture. As a young woman, she broke away from her aristocratic British family & lived with nomads. Her vitality jumps off the screen.  Rocky & Bullwinkle (he stole the movie)  “Suckerfish”, a local feature filmed in my neighborhood using local actors & local fish being eaten by other local fish, followed by Q&A with the filmmaker.  Excellent quality for an ENTIRELY improvised shoot (except for, of course, a 33 scene sketch of the plot allowing for locations to be used as needed.  I thought it interesting that the filmmaker had to tell his cast that shooting in sequence would be counter -productive.) A short on taxidermy curiously moving & also more than you ever wanted to know on the subject.  None of this broke my pocketbook; none was embarrassing.  I am in love with this part of the world & will never leave, mainly because I can’t stay away from the bright lights & the Castro district. 

Also during this period, I performed in a dinner murder mystery, taped one radio play and began rehearsals for another.  Just a glance at Wednesday’s paper gives me vertigo: 
 “Broadway Ballbusters” a revival of “1776” “the Oddvillian Sideshow” –comedy, dance, circus arts Joan Armatrading “Men Fake Foreplay” Emotional Hospital—improv comedy based on TV medical dramas The premiere of a brief "theatrical civil action" by Opera Piccola, commissioned in honor of the tenth anniversary of Breast Cancer Action “The String Cheese Incident” with Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (and this is in UC Berkeley’s gigantic Greek Theatre.  I haven’t a clue what it is.) That’s just a teeny taste of our SF Bay Area Universe.

Claudine Jones

London
Plays in London at the moment:
The current critical and popular choices are ‘Orpheus Descending’ with Helen Mirren (Donmar Warehouse - review in next issue), ‘The Graduate’ with Kathleen Turner (Gielgud until the end of the month when Jerry Hall takes over);; ‘Coriolanus’ with Ralph Fiennes (Almeida at the Gainsborough Studios).

Other recommendations include:
‘Dolly West’s Kitchen’ (Royal Court), ‘Stones In His Pockets (New Ambassadors); ‘Speed The Plow’ (Duke Of York’s); Romeu & Julieta (The Globe); ‘All My Sons’ (Royal National Theatre); ‘Baby Doll’ (Albery).

Closing:
‘Tales From Ovid’ by Ted Hughes, directed by Tim Supple (The Young Vic)

Musicals: ‘Witches Of Eastwick (in previews at Drury Lane); ‘Singin’ In The Rain’ (RNT), La Cava (Victoria Palace); ‘Spend Spend Spend’ (Piccadilly); ‘The Lion King’(Lyceum), ‘The King And I’ with Elaine Paige and Jason Scott Lee (Palladium)

Edinburgh previews abound and the comedy season is on.

Jamie Zubairi

Norway
Welcome to Norway—home of Ibsen, and . . . well, Ibsen!

I’m in Stavanger, the fourth largest city in Norway, about three hours south of Bergen on the west coast. This is where I landed, a playwright living on foreign turf for the past eight years. Most of the theater is in Oslo, of course, but Stavanger does have one of the most important theaters in the country--Rogaland teater. They premiere many Norwegian works and import first-rate plays from all over Europe. In fact, the artistic director Eirik Stubø just left Rogaland to breath new life into the National Theatre in Oslo.

There are several exciting puppet theaters in this country. One of the oldest is Petrusjka in northern Norway. H￥logaland teater is also in the northern part of the country and was founded to preserve and to improve the image of the local dialect. Hålogaland teater is celebrated for its innovative work. There is also a Sami (Lappish) theater in Kautokeino that enjoys a generous government subsidy.

Norwegian theaters are primarily institutional, which makes them remarkably incestuous, as you might imagine. Actors are well trained, but often wind up working at the same theater for years doing the same roles. Actors are on staff and because of the strong unions the theater really can't get rid of them once they are hired. Some advantages to the arrangement are job security and family-friendly stability. One striking disadvantage is that actors are sometimes bored and theaters have to work hard to find new blood. One way they do this is by hiring freelance directors as a rule.

There are many amateur revue companies. They are characteristic of Norwegian culture. Until the 1970’s travel in Norway was difficult and communities established themselves long ago in isolated valleys and along the wild fjords. Dialects are still particular to small regions. Generally, teenagers interested in the stage wet their appetite in revue productions and then compete for one of 10 places in the National Theater Academy each year. If they do make it through, they are practically guaranteed a job. Some actors go to England for training, but then they can find it difficult to make the contacts necessary to break onto the Norwegian stage.

However, Theater as an institution is dying here. The last of the great theater Divas and Grand Old Men are passing (think of the days of the Barrymores). In the 60s and 70s there was an explosion of what they call “free theater”, but as political passions waned, those theaters languished. However, now an increasing number of viable, artistic free theaters are springing up. One of the most successful of these is Grenland teater, which hosts an international festival each year. More and more actors are giving up institutional jobs and working in television, film and stage (which can result in confused acting styles and horribly dramatic television—but I’ll return to that subject when I cover the Norwegian Screen next month).

The National Theater Academy also has a directing program, but it only accepts 8-10 students every third year. Therefore most freelance directors get experience through revues and school productions. They work contract to contract, contact to contact. Their lives resemble more closely life in the American theater.

The hottest Norwegian playwright at the moment is Jon Fosse. His work is being done in Germany and France and has been optioned in other countries. One of his plays has also been translated into English, though it has not yet been produced.

There is not a wealth of great new playwrights in Ibsen's country. There is no tradition for education or in-residencies. Two years ago Rogaland teater invited 12 writers (including me) to workshop ten-minute plays in an effort to encourage new playwrighting. Unfortunately, the workshop productions were closed to the public and press because the actors refused to perform unfinished works. And because the workshop tied up the actors and the stage for a week, the theater can't afford to do it again.

Radio theater is alive and kicking in Norway, though in need of fresh scripts.

And in the area of dance, the Norwegian choreographer Jo Str￸mgren has recently emerged as a major international talent.

So, hva skjer in Norway now?

Most theaters are closed this month. But you can line up for September (and if you’re going to catch Ibsen or O’Neill at the National Theater, you need to do so quickly, because tickets are going fast).

Ren Powell

Australia
FILM - George Lucas has been spotted in Sydney buying "Men in Black" & "Indiana Jones Chronicles" videos at Kmart, renting a $A15000 a week Italian style mansion near Fox Studios (Sydney) whilst Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman are staying in trendy apartments. They are all there for the filming of the next Star Wars movie.

Academy award winning actor Geoffrey Rush and directors Baz Luhrmann and Spike Jonze have blasted a decision to cut up to $500,000 funding to the Australian Film Institute. Other film stars, directors and industry bodies, including the British Film Institute, have written to the Federal Government and the AFI to express their concern at the cuts. The reduced funding could mean the institute's short films and documentaries arm, AFI Distribution, and the AFI Research and Information Centre are shut down. Industry leaders say the two services are vital to nurturing talent in the Australian film-making sector. "Pull out the key cards and the whole house will fall down," Rush warned.

Auditions  were held last week  for a young Crocodile Dundee for the upcoming Crocodile Dundee 3. Director Simon Wincer (Free Willy) ideally needs a blonde blue eyed boy "aged between 7-11 years" who must not have green or brown eyes. He says "I need a real Aussie kid, a child of the 21st century. Unlike his father who will be locked away somewhere in the 20th.

A couple of local films soon to be released are: "Chopper" based on the life of violent criminal Chopper Read who is well known in Oz for mutilating himself while in jail. An amazing performance by all accounts from local actor and comedian Eric Bana as Chopper. Hours in the makeup chair each day having prosthetic mutilated ears applied. For some sections of the movie Eric gained 20 Kilograms in weight and then had to lose it again. He told me it was a diet of beer and pizza and pasta and no exercise. When anyone criticised his diet he just told them he was working. The second is called "The Dish" and stars Sam Neill and concerns the Aussies and Americans who worked together in an Oz tracking station during the first moon landings. First reports are that it is a very funny and interesting movie. Queen of the Damned is to shoot in Melbourne taking advantage of the "Gothic" parts of our city. Features in pre production include: Arach Attack on the Gold Coast, The Bank in Melbourne and Bodyjackers in Adelaide. Unexpected support from Andrew Mason (producer who worked on "The Matrix," "Red Planet" and "Dark City") for the actors and techs. Union in Australia (MEAA) recently. He compared the importation process of actors and crew into Australia with the US experience. He stated that "until there are reciprocal rights between the two countries, why should it be any easier to import people into Australia? The MEAA has every right to protect jobs for Australians." At the moment the drift seems very one sided. OK we all know about Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman but both were actually born in the US. There are a great many others who can't get a gig even though they have the talent and theexperience. The only thing they lack is a green card. THEATRE The wonderful Geoffrey Rush (Shine, Shakespeare in Love, ) is to appear onstage in Melbourne at the Melbourne Festival (Oct 19 - Nov4) as a 5 year old in a play that he commissioned 15 or so years ago called "Tall Poppies." It seems that Melbourne is a great place to see Film actors on stage. Not just Geoffrey Rush, but also Guy Pearce, (LA Confidential) Rachel Griffiths, Frances O'Connor, Hugh Jackman (Xmen) and Kate Blanchette have all graced the stages of Melbourne's theatres over the last couple of years. Great to see them return to their roots and to keep returning. They all give great support to local artists and companies. Just opened is the Melbourne Theatre Company production of "Death of a salesman" with Frank Gallacher as Willie Loman. More after I get to see it, if I do. TV All but 2 channels in Australia's pay TV industry failed to meet requirements to spend 10% of annual program expenditure for local drama shows.  Gee whiz, it might be time to enforce the regulations. Two Oz productions picked up awards at the Banff festival. "Round the Twist " a children's' television production and "Island of the vampire Birds" a documentary both won Rockie Awards. A 26 part TV series for kids about horses is set to start production in Melbourne on August 14th. "The Saddle Club" is a co-pro between Oz, Canada the UK and the US. The Co Pro seems to be the only way we can get the money to do decent drama in this country. Just as well we are currently flavour of the month. Will "Blonde" the US network CBS's 2x2hour mini series on the life of Marilyn Monroe be shot in Melbourne? Should start shooting in August if the go ahead is given. Due to be screened in the US in November. They'd better get moving. Another 22 episodes of "Farscape" (series 3) will be shot in Sydney. They have to wait until after the Olympics to get their studio space back. It is somehow part of the Olympic facilities and was adapted to studio space for the shooting of series 2. Hope it's not the swimming complex. The next series of that incredibly successful load of old crap, "Survivor" will be shot in Far North Queensland. What ever happened to well written, produced, directed and acted drama? A mini series of "South Pacific" is to be made in Oz. Why, is the first question. Glenn Close is to play Nellie Forbush but who will they cast as the "older" man? URLs for more information: Australian Film Commission  www.afc.gov.au Cinemedia  www.cinemedia.net Film Australia  www.filmaust.com.au

Don Bridges

july 2000

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